Rural Romance reader Angela Petty took a road trip from her country manor to mine!

Farm girl Angela lives in rural Western Australia and loves a saga. She says she’s a sucker for a romance story (although when she gets the time to read with this kind of scenery at her back door is beyond me! I'd be glued to it.)


 
 
 Take it away, Angela:

---

Angela's country manor! A real taste of Australia.

Will you tell us a little about yourself and why you love reading? 
 
I am a busy mum, and live on a farm in the Wheat Belt so as my down time I love to read, I love the journey books take me on, and just get swept up in the moment. I sometimes even think the characters in a book are real life people the way I fall in love with them and cry with them.

The Wheat Belt Angela is talking about is a region of Western Australia. Take a rural road trip sometime: Wheat Belt Way, Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail and Pioneers’ Pathway.

When you look at a book cover - can you predict what might happen in the story? 

I will be honest and say I pick up a book and if I don’t like the cover I would probably put it back down unless it’s recommended to me. So yes I guess I try to predict what happens just from the cover but I am not always right, I do love a good twist at the end of a good book.

Do you choose books where the topic might relate to your family or lifestyle - or do you choose something you can escape with?

Oh that’s a tuff one. Can I say both? (Of course you can!) I read to relax and escape my busy life, but I do tend to stick more to rural romance/romance novels as I live on a farm and can relate to the lonely farmer's wife or the un-romantic cowboy (did you say 'cowboy'?), however, I do like other genres and have read every Jodi Picoult book out there (you're not alone). I am  a huge sucker for a good soppy love story, so if I had to pick between two books I would pick the rural romance, who doesn’t love a small country town love  saga?

I have no idea - do such people exist?

By the end of the book can you remember the title?

Yes! But having said that I might not remember it in a month if I didn’t love it, and if I really loved it I will remember it for years to come.
 
Do you stick to your favourite author’s books, or are you happy to branch out and read another author’s book?

I do like to try out new and upcoming authors but I also have my favourites that I get so excited when they release a new book I will quite often pre-order so that I have it on the day of release.

Yay  - Angela’s a pre-order kind of reader!  In this day and age of  thousands of books being available online - it's best to pre-order that title you like the  sound of because by  the time the  book is released in two or three weeks' time - you've forgotten the title!

If you could tell authors one thing you’d like to see more of or learn more about on their web pages or blogs - what would it be?

♥ Without spoiling the book I love to know how the idea of the story came about, ♥ and what inspires you when writing books, ♥ how you think up characters, ♥ if they are real people in your lives  ♥ and how you keep your passion through the entire story line from start to finish so us readers can’t put your book down, and want more and more.

Those are great questions, especially the last one. A story that's a page-turner is a story you'll remember for years and years and years (even if you forget the title!).

Thank you Angela!  You're a valuable, bubbly and discerning member of the Facebook Rural Romance Readers and Writers Group, and you're actively supportive of writers - for which we thank you hugely!

And you’re only about 357 kilometres away from me - that’s ‘down the road a bit’ in Australia. I hope you pop in for another cup of tea soon. Or maybe I'll drive east and check out  your Wheat Belt cowboys.

---

If you’re a lover of country fiction and rural romance, here are two Facebook groups you might like to join:
 
Rural Romance Readers and Writers

Books for Country Girls and Guys

Please feel free to leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you!

Jennie & Angela